Panel Seeks Adoption of Pesticide Guidelines

A task force examining friction between local farmers and their suburban neighbors will urge San Diego County to pass new laws to protect residents against pesticides while expanding land-use regulations to save farmland from premature development.

The city-county task force on agricultural-urban issues voted Thursday to submit to the Board of Supervisors a report proposing new laws requiring public notification of pesticide spraying and publication of information about the health effects of pesticide exposure.

The lengthy report, to be presented by Sept. 15, also recommends that the county take steps to discourage the unnecessary introduction of urban lot sizes in farming areas, while setting criteria for determining when farming uses are outdated.

Other proposals in the report include schemes to hold down the cost of reclaimed water; passage of a “right to farm” ordinance to protect farms from being unfairly branded a nuisance, and formation of boards to mediate agricultural-urban disputes.

The task force, formed in part in response to conflicts in Carmel Valley between tomato growers and neighbors affected by pesticide spraying, consists of representatives of agricultural interests and environmental, health and planning groups.

Its mission included studying the use of pesticides in the county, and looking into health risks and possible alternatives. It was also to consider the impact of urbanization on agriculture and the value of agriculture to the county.

Toward that end, the task force broke into four subcommittees dealing respectively with pesticides, water, land use, and the impact of agriculture on urban areas and vice versa. The subcommittees submitted the following recommendations:

- Pesticides: The county should draft an ordinance to require advance notice of pesticide applications in public areas, look into providing educational material for field workers and homeowners, and direct the county health department to make available to doctors information on health effects of pesticides.

Among other things, it should also look into improved enforcement of pesticide regulations and alternatives to pesticides, such as integrated pest control management.

- Water: The county should pursue a water reuse study, favorably structure the cost of reclaimed waste water, require water reclamation in new developments, and prohibit installation of salt-using water softeners that inhibit water reclamation.

- Land use: The county should discourage leap-frog development, especially in agricultural areas. It should also develop criteria for determining when farmland in an area can no longer be sustained and when other uses should be considered.

- Nuisance: The county should adopt a “right to farm” ordinance that defines and limits the circumstances under which farming is considered a nuisance and requiring that prospective neighbors be aware that noise, odors, dust and chemicals come with the turf.

The county should also form an “agricultural interface board” to familiarize the public with so-called farm nuisances and find solutions to frictions between farmers and neighbors.

Because the task force felt it had insufficient time to complete its mission, it intends to ask the supervisors to extend its life span another six months, into April.